Friday, March 28, 2003

Thursday, March 27, 2003

My friend Chris Albritton, a freelance journalist has raised $10,000 through his website and has gone to Iraq to cover the war independently. He's a wonderful guy--I met him through my show a couple of years ago when he was at the New York Daily News. He's really a wonderful journalist, and I hope if you like the writing you'll take the opportunity to let others know what he's doing.

I'm sorry, but how much shit did America have to take for that missle yesterday, which intelligence indicates is probably Iraqi?

How much will I hear about this today on the BBC? Phhhhht. Don't hold your breath. We won't know for certain for weeks, but I expect the story to take a mysterious back seat just about...wait for it...now.

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

From our friends at the New York Times: The Upright Citizens Brigade, the respected alternative troupe, has found a new home. The company, which runs one of the largest comedy acting training programs in the country and is host to dozens of comedy shows, lost its Manhattan theater on West 22nd Street in November after the city found a zoning violation. Now the company is planning to reopen at a larger space at 307 West 26th Street, formerly the Maverick Theater.

I've noticed that THE ONION has been duplicating itself an awful lot as well...and now The New York Press asks them to please stop. They say it's a spring break thing--but I'd swear it happens more and more frequently.

Monday, March 17, 2003

I saw that dog breath commercial when I was over in England the other week. It was offensive! It was gross. It sounds pretty bland, but it was really well done. It looked like he was puking dog. You didn't know what to expect. It was a cross between a close up of a woman giving birth and puke. That's what it looked like. I wouldn't have jumped on the wagon to have it pulled from the air, but I could see why it upset people.

Hitchens does a good job summarizing some of the issues on both sides of what to do about Iraq, and captures exactly what I don't like about Jimmy Carter. He's a nice guy, but I still can't believe he got a Nobel Peace Prize.

And here's something for my Top Ten List of Reasons Why You Know You're Unemployed. #10: The baristas at Starbucks see you so often that they comp you for coffee. (Yes, this happened to me the other day: the barista told me I was such a good customer that my "money was no good" there.)

Friday, March 14, 2003

In a related story, our old friend Farhad Manjoo has a story at Salon on the increasing gap between reality and employer expectations. Bill Lessard from Netslaves serves up some juicy quotes, and it paints a dismal picture--all the power is in the hands of the corporations, and you'd better be ready to kiss the boot of your masters if you expect to even get an UNPAID internship. Dark times, indeed.

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Saw a cool show tonight, at which they asked us to support THAW, Theatres Against War. They directed us here, for possible curtain speeches. Curtain speeches? Read Tony Kushner's. Come on back.

Okay, I haven't been very political on the blog, but I have to say that is the worst curtain speech of all time. Ick. Unless you are doing a show that is an anti-war benefit, for the love of God don't polarize your audience and simultaneously bore them to tears with the endless tirades on this page. Say something short, or mention the existence of THAW if you must...but these things are wretched. A lot of art is already terrible in the world--it doesn't need help.\

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

By now this freaky cat ad for Nokia is all over the Web, but here's another mirror if you aren't tragically hip enough to have seen it 10 hours ago, when all the cool kids were mailing links to one another.

Monday, March 10, 2003

Thursday, March 06, 2003

A friend writes:

I'm a slave to my couch. I love it so. I barely get off it. This is terrible! Wonderful, terrible couch.

I know what he means. Right now I am ready to strangle Mother Nature with a length of telephone cord for giving us another six inches of snow. It is March. In my book, it is spring...or at least Mud Season, as we called it growing up. I am ready for a change of scenery.